The naming of Canon's...

[Walczak Photo]

"The naming of cats is a difficult matter, it isn't just one of your holiday games. You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter when I tell you a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES" - T.S. Elliot

These words went thru my mind a few days back as I was looking through some older ads for Canon DSLRs. Back in the old days you had a Canon D30 (not Nikon, a 3.1 mp Canon) and then a D60 and now a days you have the 30D, the 40D and perhaps in a couple of years there may even be a 60D if things keep going the way that have. Then of course there's the infamous 5D, 1D, etc., etc.. Later it also occurred to me that with the 5D Mark II allegedly due out soon and the recent introduction of the 1D Mark III and the 1Ds Mark III, I had to wonder why instead of the 20D, 30D and 40D, we didn't just see a 10D Mark II, Mark II and Mark IV. Then of course there's the transcontinental naming of the Rebel XT/XTi versus the 350D/400D, etc..

There's no specific purpose to all of this beyond my idle curiosity...it certainly has no bearing on which model I choose to buy since I buy my cameras based on my budget vs. available features and IQ but after thinking about this for a couple of days (along with being something of a trivia buff) I am curious...does anyone know how or why Canon has named the respective Canon models the way that they have? Was there initially some legal/copyright/trademark issue with Nikon or something or is it simply that someone in Canon's marketing dept is perhaps a bit dyslexic?

Again, just curious...

Peace,
Jim

[MaxS]

The naming system can be found in the link below, but I'm not entirely sure why it is the way it is. As far as the Digital Rebel vs xxxD vs Kiss XX thing goes, I would guess it would be for regional warranty-covered repair. It's not a necessity, but it's a convenience to the respective repair facilities. They can see at-a-glance if the camera in front of them should really be paid for at Canon USA/Europe/Japan's respective expense. I also agree with you in that the 40D should just be the 10D Mk IV.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_e..._naming_scheme

Less specifically though, it is as follows:

Professional (FF): 1Ds, 1Ds Mk II, 1Ds Mk III
Professional (APS-H): 1D, 1D Mk II, 1D Mk II N, 1D Mk III
Prosumer (FF): 5D
Prosumer (APS-C): D30, D60, 10D, 20D, 20Da, 30D, 40D
Entry-Level (APS-C): 300D, 350D, 400D, 450D

(By the way, I've been a lurker here for a while; I finally hope to get some posting in now that school's winding down. )

[Walczak Photo]

Thanks for the comments Max. I was aware of the order of the models based on their level of performance, I was just curious about the actual names or more specifically the reason and or (possible) logic behind the names....the early D30 vs. the 30D and so on.

Peace,
Jim

[Steve-R]

Product naming is purely marketing. I am assuming that the marketing people at Canon concluded that the entry level and pro-sumer cameras need to have new names for each version to signify their "newness", whereas with the professional lines, they are emphasizing the continuance of the legacy behind the single-digit cameras.

[MaxS]

Ah, all right. I already gave my thoughts on the xxxD, but along the lines of the D30/60: considering they were Canon's first DSLRs, I would assume that they were planning on going that route, but Nikon already had that type of naming scheme down. I would venture to guess that the D30 and 30D are completely unrelated, and it just happened that they overlapped after Canon finalized their nomenclature. I've been searching for answer for you, and even the old man, who's been shooting Canon since college, doesn't know. I agree that it's a bit confusing for the average Joe coming into the market for DSLRs.

[j00sten]

I have no idea why it went from D30/60 to 10D, but taking a stab in the dark, I'm guessing the 10D nomenclature results from the first inception of the proprietary DIGIC processor.

[F1_Fan]

Originally Posted by j00sten

I have no idea why it went from D30/60 to 10D, but taking a stab in the dark, I'm guessing the 10D nomenclature results from the first inception of the proprietary DIGIC processor.

Probably to avoid confusion with Nikon who use the Dx, Dxx, Dxxx naming structure. For example there's a Nikon D40 and a Canon 40D...

[tzalman]

The Rebel name goes back many years to a line of entry-level film cameras. The American importer's market research indicated that a large segment of the market would be young people and a name that they thought would appeal to that segment was adopted. The XT, XTi, XS are popular buzz words in naming a lot of products today, with connotations of extra, excellence, etc. (but hopfully not excrement.) The importers are often the ones who choose the name. In Japan English names have great appeal and Kiss carries connotations of love, happiness and sex, again appealing mainly to younger buyers. In Europe, where there is less motivation to Americanization, English names have less attraction and because of the fact that the market includes many different countries and languages, a numerical system is preferred.

[JeffreyG]

I'm not sure I would describe the 1D and 5D as 'infamous'.

[Jon]

Canon's naming scheme has never made a whole lot of sense if you expected any coherent, unified field model. Back in the older days, there was the FT, which evolved into the FTb, which was slightly modified to become the FTbN (although the body markings remained FTb). The "Big Brother" was the F-1, followed by the F-1n and the radically different "New F-1", which was still marked "F-1" on the body. And the auto-exposure EF. The low end came as the TL, then the TLb, which was succeeded by the TX.

Then they came to the A-series. AE-1, AV-1, AT-1, AL-1, A-1 and AE-1 Program. And if you see any consistent rationale in the second letters used . . .

[Zepher]

Originally Posted by j00sten

I have no idea why it went from D30/60 to 10D, but taking a stab in the dark, I'm guessing the 10D nomenclature results from the first inception of the proprietary DIGIC processor.

I think because Nikon came out with the D70.